House Votes on Epstein Disclosure as Speaker Johnson warns 'Could Revictimize Victims’

• Transparency vs. Victim Protection

  • The central argument revolves around balancing transparency with protecting victims, whistleblowers, and third parties.
  • Speaker of the House Mike Johnson supports disclosure but criticizes the bill for lacking safeguards.

• Legislative Process and Flaws

  • The bill in question (HR 445) is described as “recklessly flawed.”
  • Issues cited include:
    • Failure to protect victim privacy.
    • Risk of releasing child sexual abuse material.
    • Jeopardizing grand jury secrecy and national security.
    • Potential harm to future investigations.

• Political Weaponization

  • Democrats are using the Epstein scandal as a political tool to harm Donald Trump and Republicans.
  • Republicans argue they support transparency but want responsible handling.

• Oversight Committee’s Role

  • The committee has already released significant Epstein-related documents, including flight logs, financial records, and calendars.
  • These efforts are presented as more thorough and careful than the proposed legislation.

• Speaker Johnson’s Position

  • Advocates for maximum transparency but insists on amendments to protect victims.
  • Warns that the discharge petition process prevents House amendments, leaving the Senate to correct flaws.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:24):
lefting each other.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good Wednesday morning.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Nice have you with us on the forty seven Morning Update,
And we've got one big story for you, and it.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Involves the Epstein files or papers.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan way, passing it to
expose all of it out of the House of Representatives.
There's just one problem with this legislation. It may not
protect Epstein's victims.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
So now the real work is going to have to
be done in the Senate.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
We'll break it all down for you, but at first
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You got to use a special website, Hillsdale dot edu
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slash Morning Update. It's the forty seven Morning Update and
it starts right now. Story number one, it's all about transparency.
That is what President Trump promised when he was elected president.

(03:19):
Yet again exposing mud that the government was hiding from
all of us. We now know that it's moving forward
with the Epstein papers. I call them papers because it
is a lie to say that there is an Epstein file.
There are a lot of documents to deal with Jeffrey Epstein,
but it is not a file in the way that
it was described before Donald Trump became president. You know

(03:43):
when the Democrats were trying to weaponize it. Well, now
we know we're going to get to see those files
or those papers. As a Speaker of the House, Mike
Johnson led the way with a House vote in favor
of disclosing exactly what we have at the DOJ. He
stated publicly to press conference, I'm going to vote to

(04:05):
move this forward. Despite describing the bill as a recklessly
flawed bill, Johnson also said that the measure is a
way to demonstrate transparency and there's nothing to hide, specifically
in the context of responding to allegations that the files
might implicate Donald Trumper be used as a political weapon.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Now, Johnson went to the floor of the House.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
And repeatedly called the bill dangerously flawed because he believes
it lacks sufficient protection for victims, whistle blowers, and innocent
third parties whose names might appear in the files. He
criticized how the bill was drafted, for example, pointing out
that the authors of the discharged petition had signed the

(04:51):
wrong section of the US Code and that the legislation
could force the release of child sexual abuse material due
to imprecise language. Johnson also emphasized that the House cannot
amend the bill under the discharge petition process, so he
wants to senate via the Majority Leader John Thum, to

(05:13):
make corrections before final passage. He said he's been working
with a small army of lawyers on this issue. He
also accused Democrats forcing what he called a political show
vote on this issue and said it was irresponsible how
it is happening. I want you to hear Speaker Johnson

(05:35):
in his own words from the House talking about this
before the vote.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Democrats are using the Epstein tragedy, the unspeakable evils that
this guy committed with his trafficking ring, and all of
the abuses that they that they made these young women
go through. They're using that as a political weapon to
try to distract from their failures as a party and
to try their best to try to high President Trump

(06:01):
somehow into this wretched scandal. The President had nothing to
do with it. He's been very clear and he has
nothing to hide, and that's why he's endorsed the vote today.
I suspect this vote will be probably unanimous. But here's
the important point that everybody needs to understand we have
been advocates of maximum transparency, but we have also insisted
that the victims be carefully protected. The Oversight Committee has

(06:24):
been doing extraordinary work, and we've got some of the
most vigorous advocates on the Republican and Democrat side on
the Oversight Committee. They've been working in earnest to deliver
transparency for the American people and to do it in
a responsible manner. What do we mean by that, the
bypart is an effort over there is already producing all
the results that the discharged petition seeks and much much more.

(06:47):
Chairman Comer and all of these advocates over there have
been releasing thousands of documents, for example, from the Epstein estate.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
By the way, in my.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
View, that's been the greatest treasure trove of information because
it's yielded for us Epstein's own personal flight logs, his
financial records, his daily calendars, and so much more. But importantly,
none of that was addressed or is addressed, and the
legislation that's being voted on today, the estate files wouldn't
even have been encompassed in that. And so it goes
to show that the Oversight Committee is doing it from

(07:16):
the direct way. From the very beginning, we've been insistent
that this matter be handled carefully, with the utmost caution
and care for the people who have been harmed. They
should not be made to suffer any longer. We're talking
about real people's lives at stake here, and young victims
who don't want to be dragged into this political game
that could get hurt further. But the Democrats are rushing

(07:38):
the release of thousands of unsubstantiated documents that may be
included in this that are going to be in the
public domain with the passage of this bill. And there
are serious deficiencies in the legislation that I have noted
at length, and Republicans have to work to address those
deficiencies in the Senate if and when this legislation is advanced.
I stood before the American public today at our press

(07:58):
conference and I explained and tale the dangers of the
discharge petition. We have posted at my website Speaker dot
gov a summary. The legal Council, a small army of
lawyers put this together. I used to be a federal
court litigator. Many of my colleagues who have spoken today
were we understand the dangers of how this was haphazardly
drawn up and among them. By the way, mister Speaker,

(08:19):
before I forget seeking AMAS consent to enter into this
document of the record, it is that. It's on the website.
It's entitled how the flaws of HR forty four h
five could revictimize Epstein's victims, create new victims, and damage
the judicial system. It is dated today, thank you, and
it summarizes just five or six of the major concerns.

(08:40):
Among them, it fails to fully protect victim privacy, It
could create new categories of victims. It potentially jeopardizes grand
jury secrecy. It fails to prohibit release of child sexual
abuse materials that are not appropriately defined in the legislation.
It jeopardizes future federal investigations, and we have national security
currentcerns regarding classified information. We'll put this in the record

(09:03):
because we need the legislative record to reflect what is
the legislative intent behind this vote. I used to litigate cases.
We would litigate federal statutes and whether or not they
could survive, and legislative intent is important, and we need
to say clearly for the record. As a Speaker of
the House, I'm saying to you this legislation that will
pass today is flawed and it must be amended. The
question is why didn't we amend it here before we

(09:23):
passed it because the authors won't allow it because under
the rules of the House in our discharge petition, they
have to agree to consent for the legislation to be amended,
and they are not doing that. So now we rely
upon our partners in the other chamber to get that done,
and they need to do that. The victims deserve our
utmost respect. In fact, they should be saluted for their courage.
And the young women who have not come forward who

(09:44):
are now some of them are middle h women who
have not come forward, also deserve our respect and they
deserve to be protected. Republicans support transparency. We want maximum transparency,
especially when it comes to disclosing the names of anybody
who had anything to do with these evils, anybody who
can inspired with or aid it in any way. Jeffrey Epstein,
They must be brought to justice. We want the bill

(10:06):
to be amended so it doesn't in at the same time,
violate victim privacy, create new victims, disclose the names of
any whistleblower or informant cause the release of grand jury
materials or child sexual abuse materials or under minor national
security And if and when the Senate takes this up,
we will work with our colleagues over there to make
sure that these things are corrected.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
I'll I'll just close.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
With this simple thought. We've been at this a while,
it's drug on for a while, but it's time for
this to come to light. We are I expect that
I expect that this will be a unanimous vote, and
it will reflect what I think every member in this chamber.
And I'll say this now, at least in recent days,
every member of the chamber on the Democrats side, they

(10:50):
didn't say anything for four years, but they're for maximum
transparency now and so is this side. But we want
to do it in a respectful and careful manner so
that we don't subject innocent people to further harm. And
that has been the whole thing I told all my
members today. I'll be voting yes on this, and I
suspect almost everyone will. We'll send it to the Senate.
We hope it's corrected. Thank you for the time, I speaker.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
Now you'll beck you listen to what he just said there,
and it really shows you just how sick the Democratic
Party is. They don't care who they hurt. The Democratic
Party just wants us to be a political issue. They
want it to be a political issue.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
I'm gonna say it again.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
They want it to be a political issue to hurt
Donald Trump. That's it. That's the whole thing. That's literally
the whole ballgame. It's the only thing that they care about.
It's sad because there are flaws. But if you're a Republican,

(11:53):
as the speaker described there, and you vote against this,
it would be used and weaponized against you. That is
one of the sad and sick problems of all of this.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
The final point that.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
The present made about this is fine, go ahead and
make it public. Why so it's clear there is nothing
that we as Republicans are trying to hide. Put it
all out there so that everyone can see it.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
It's also sad that the.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Democrats can't even do that the responsible way, and the
only thing they want to do is try to put
Republicans in a corner and they don't care what victims
they hurt in the process.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
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